Oil India Q1 net profit rises 9.5% to Rs 929 crore

NEW DELHI: State-owned Oil India Ltd today reported a 9.5 per cent rise in net profit in the June quarter on back of higher crude oil and natural gas prices.

Net profit in April-June quarter at Rs 929.93 crore was higher than Rs 849.61 crore in the same period a year ago, the company said in a press statement here.

"The increase of 9.45 per cent in profit after tax (net profit) has been possible due to higher crude oil, natural gas, price in rupee terms and increase in interest income," it said.

The company paid Rs 2,015.52 crore in fuel subsidies in Q1, up 13.2 per cent from Rs 1,780.65 crore in the same period a year ago.

Upstream oil firms like OIL and Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) make up for at least one-third of the losses that retailers incur on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene at government controlled rates that are way below cost. The upstream firms give subsidy by extending discounts on crude oil they sell to the refiners.

OIL said the gross realisation from crude oil sales was down from $ 116.32 per barrel in Q1 last fiscal to $ 109.78 a barrel this year. Net realisation after subsidy payout decreased from $ 59.55 per barrel to $ 53.85 a barrel in April-June this year.

"However, due to increase in exchange rate, the net realisation in rupee per barrel has increased from Rs 2,662.48 per barrel to Rs 2,913.29 per barrel, an increase of 9.42 per cent," it said.

Rupee has depreciated against US dollar from Rs 44.71 to a US dollar last fiscal to Rs 54.10 per US dollar in Q1. The rupee depreciation led to a gain of Rs 412 crore in revenues.